2014-01-17 - SDR: In for a Penny...
Part two of a series Part One: 2014-01-17 - SDR: Young Avengers... ASSEMBLE! Part Three: 2014-01-19 - SDR: ...in for a pound. Part Four: 2014-01-19 - SDR: Young Avengers to the Rescue! They landed. Heavily. Three Young Avengers, freshly assembled, ready to storm an island full of super powered mutants, with military ready to fire. Instead, they are greeted with an idyllic beach scene... a largish city not too far distant, no weapons aiming at them, no foot soldiers rushing them down. Scratching their heads, the three make their way to the city. Just as they are walking up to the road, Adam turns, saying "All right, so let's--" looking back at America and ...Finesse? "Where's Jeanne?" he asks suddenly. "...did she just drop off on her own to do...?" He sighs. "Whatever. She'll find us." If anything, he at least isn't negative about his teammate's abilities. "All right, Rica. Let's find Julian, Clint, and the rest, and get them out of here." America doesn't seem overly surprised by the rather... unexpected turn of events that they come upon. It wasn't unheard of to walk into a normal area, and it wasn't as if anyone were expecting them after all. At most she expects them to become aware of their entrance not long after this. "That's the plan," She agrees as she looks over her shoulder noticing the missing Jeanne with a shrug. She'd show up. "Just keep in mind we're not here to start shit if we can avoid it. For now." "Relax. We look for what might be a civic building or police station. It's a city like any other. Just on an island." America had already begun to skim the skyline trying to figure out where to go when the kids start to run past. She pauses almost instantly staring at them but not with a look of hatred, fear, or disdain that they might expect from 'normal' people. No... The look on her face shifts to a sad smile. "No, not right now. Maybe later," she offers to the kids with surprising softness given she was prone to be the quiet loner typically. Instead she actually crouches down with her hands on her knees to be more on level with the kids while smiling at them warmly. "We're actually looking for a friend of ours that came here recently. I don't suppose you guys would be able to point us in the right direction?" "Who ya looking for?" the orange kid asks with a grin. The normal looking kid looks over at Adam and snickers. "You /dyed/ your hair? I mean, it's okay if you look human, you know." He grins. Adam begins to protest, "Hey wait, I'm totally--" America's arm snaps back and up planting her fist in Adam's solar plexus to cut him off when he was about to say something he shouldn't have. "Don't mind him. He just really likes purple," she explains to the kids as her hand drops down again with a shrug. "His name's Julian Keller but he goes by Hellion sometimes," she offers up asking about the mutant one for now and not the others. That would be a huge red-flag asking about humans. "OOF." Adam coughs suddenly, grabbing his solar plexus. "...Ugh, Rica, what was /that/ for?" The kids look at each other, shrugging. "You think that's him?" the orange one says. The normal kid closes his eyes. "Uh, so, what powers does he have? Name isn't familiar, but I can find him, probably, if he's not too far away." America glances back over her shoulder at Adam giving him a look only for her eyes to roll upward. How was he not Clint's son? Oh yes. Not related. Her attention turns back to the kids with a nod. "Telekenesis. I don't know that he has any others, but he's pretty strong at that. It's visible with a green miasma when he uses it," she suggests attempting to be helpful in any way she can since it seems the normal kid's power was seeking. A gilded cage is still a cage, and while Julian Keller has been given a great deal of freedom in his pseudo-captivity, he hasn't taken full advantage of it. He can't afford to fall in love with this place. He knows that's exactly what Magneto wants, and like most times that someone in authority tries to push Julian Keller into doing something...he tends to resist it instinctively. But damn, it -is- nice here. So long as "benign" dictatorship is your thing. Though that may be an unfair assessment. Julian didn't exactly ask about how their government is organized. Still...for all the idyllic veneer, it's not so much that Julian thinks there's something rotten beneath the surface, it's that he doesn't really think it can last. Cynical, perhaps, but he's had reason to develop a good bit of cynicism in the last couple of weeks. Eventually though, he just gets sick of sitting in his room stewing, so sure enough, he flies out off of the balcony and just...zips around a bit. It's a bit surreal, passing by people in-flight who offer up greetings just as though they were walking, but while the greetings are returned politely enough, it doesn't do much to put Julian at ease. It does, however, bring the sight of that green miasma not terribly far-off, and as fate would have it, headed in the direction of the unexpected arrivals. "Lots of TKs around..." the kid replies, his eyes still closed. "But not too many strong ones." He hums to himself. "There's one... riiiiight..." and he points upwards. Adam's gaze follows the pointing finger. "...holy shit. Julian?" He calls louder, "JULIAN! HEY! DOWN HERE, BRO!" "Take your time," America offers of the kid only to lift her own head up when he points upward. "Bingo. That's him. Thanks, chico," she offers as she stands again and reaches out to lightly ruffle the top of his head with a look shot to Adam for his yelling. "You know I can just go up there without yelling, right?" She offers to Adam with a smirk. Before her smirk turns into more of a grin and she reaches out for Adam with a twinkle of mischief in her eye. "We'll go catch up with him. You guys enjoy your game," she offers to the kids only to reach out and grab hold of the back of Adam's collar. There's nothing else said as she flies up into the air hauling Adam with her. Julian blinks as he hears a familiar voice calling out to him, and then when America soon arrives before him with Adam in uh...tow, he blinks several times, looking quite surprised, "Wh-..." No, that's obvious. His mind clearly races a few moments as it glances around, and he smiles and reaches to clasp both America's and Adam's upper arms, "Hey! It's great to see you guys again. Let's head somewhere we can catch up..." He has no idea who or if anyone might be listening, but for now it's best to play it off as the happenstance meeting of friends. So he leads them to the rooftop of one of the buildings, one which doesn't seem occupied and which none of the other fliers seem to be paying much attention to. He'd have gone back to his room, but doesn't want to take the chance of it being monitored. He doesn't...-think- Magneto would do that...but Mystique he's not sure sure about. "OK, so...how're you two planning on getting out of here?" Julian notes almost as soon as they're all back on the ground (so to speak), his voice quiet but serious, "Magneto's given me a long leash, but he made it clear that trying to leave was going to be painful." He flicks a glance to America, grinning just a touch, "But I doubt he planned on you." Adam coughs as America lets him go-- the collar bit was a bit much. He crosses his arms, looking at Julian where they stand on the rooftop. "Yeah, Rica here's going punch us home as soon as we get everyone. Where's Da--Clint? And Widow, and the prisoners Magento stole? You know? We gotta get them out too." Adam's tone is firm. America puts Adam down lightly in spite of the urge to do something mean. Now was not the time for pranks. That was Loki talking. ... Except he wasn't here. Her arms cross over her chest as she tries to get herself into the proper mindset for dealing with this and not that little nagging voice in the back of her mind reminding her she very well may be the daughter of the Asgardian 'god' of mischief. Not now, brain. "No one ever expects me, chico. We came to bust you out. And the others," she agrees with a small frown at the mention of the prisoners. "... Honestly don't care so much about the scientists but I guess that's the right thing to do." "Wait, what?" Julian blinks several times, "Clint and Widow? What're you guys talking about?" He looks to Adam and frowns deeply, "We -should- get them, but I don't think we -can- Adam. Not unless you've got the Avengers, X-Men, and full reserve rosters of both of 'em in your pocket or something. We're good, but the Brotherhood would maul us in a straight fight, which is what it's gonna be if we try to bust those guys out." Adam's jaw sets stubbornly. "There's no point in us being here if we're just going to wuss out. Besides, Jeanne probably has the location of the holding cells and fifteen ways to get in unseen by now. You know how she is." "No Avengers. Just the Young Avengers," America gives a sidelong nod toward Adam as she stands with arms still crossed business-like. "Figure if the adults weren't doing anything it was time to bust out the old standby again." More importantly though her eyes narrow with a frown of thought. "Wait. Back up a minute. You mean Clint and Widow weren't taken here as well?" "If they were, I sure as hell haven't seen or heard anything about it." Julian frowns, "I wasn't conscious when they brought me...woke up in a room here. But...I don't know why Magneto would've taken them prisoner...he wasn't after them." He looks to Adam once more, then frowns again, "Jeanne's here? If Jeanne's looking for the prisoners, she's gonna realize the same thing I am...we might be able to sneak ourselves in there, but we're not gonna be able to sneak -out- with a few dozen prisoners, at least some of which are just as likely to fight -us- as the Brotherhood." America only scowls deeper as Julian speaks. "They've been missing for days now. SHIELD notified Adam about it earlier this morning," she explains with a sidelong glance toward him as she considers it. "They were at the fight where Magneto showed up to get the prisoners. They've been missing since then." Her lips press together tight as she considers it. Her fingers flex and she tries not to simply punch something right then and there. Her temper was growing however and right now she was rather displeased over the whole situation. "Jeanne's here. She split off from us soon as I got us in... and really, this is ME we're talking about Julian. I can /get/ people out, and I can punch my way through most people." "I have -no- idea if Clint and the Widow are here. Seriously." Julian frowns, looking between the pair, then back to America, "You can't punch your way through Magneto, and no offense but I'm not sure I'd put good odds on taking down the president of his fan club, either. That's if Mastermind doesn't have you punching -me- instead. Or one of the prisoners...you know, let you do their job for them." He sighs, "You know what, screw it, let's go get 'em, but I still don't have any idea where they're being held." Adam nods. "Eh, we'll figure it out. Until Finesse gets back from... whatever she decided to do... though, we need to lay low. Pretend to be mutants, or whatever. Those kids seemed okay with us, so shouldn't be too difficult." "It's... like home. A bit." America admits quietly while glancing away from the boys to regard the idyllic scene of the city of Genosha. The way people just went around doing their own thing. "They weren't expecting an invasion. Really, looks like they've got that covered on most fronts any way," she admits with her gaze sweeping up toward the dome above. "Jeanne's probably scoping things out, but yeah. They aren't expecting people who aren't meant here to actually be here. Which works to our favor. We need to wait for her, though. Can't risk leaving her behind at all," she points out with a nod. Looking back to Julian she asks, "Speaking of... Finesse? Really?" "Really?" Julian replies to America's description of home, frowning a bit, "It's nice here. Cliche to say, but almost -too- nice. I keep looking for the downside, but aside from knowing that some of the Brotherhood's crazier members might be around any given corner...I don't see it." Julian shakes his head, frowning a bit as America brings up Finesse in a context he wasn't quite expecting, "Huh? What about Fin-" -That- brings a considerable flush to his cheeks, "Oh. Uh..." He sighs, shaking his head, "It wasn't..." He frowns, "I mean..." And finally he sighs, "Let's just...not talk about that right now." "Yeah bro," Adam raises a fist to bump. "I'd have hit that too. You know." He waits for Julian to return the fistbump, and then swings hard at Julian's shoulder-- intending to leave a bruise, but not cause serious damage. "After at least waiting for my girlfriend's body to get cold." He flexes his fist. "That said, yeah. Jeanne is here, she's scouting, or whatever it is she does when she's not telling you how absolutely horrible you are at whatever you're doing." He pauses. "Dude, I've got to get her assessment of your bedroom skills, because listening to her rip you apart would be hilarious." Julian doesn't reach out for the fistbump, actually, he just sort of, -looks- at Adam. Should the further punch materialize, he simply twists a bit to cause the strike to deflect harmlessly across his chest, catching it with his opposite hand before shoving it away, ironically enough...all that training he's done with Finesse paying off. "It wasn't like that Adam. I'm not exactly proud of it, but I'm not ashamed of it either." He shakes his head, "I know it doesn't make sense. Know it makes me look like an asshole. It doesn't change how I fee- felt about Clara at all. I'm going to spend the rest of my life wondering... But I'm still going to -live- it. Because I'd like to think that's what she would've wanted." He does, however, laugh a bit at Adam's next bit, shaking his head, "Tell you what. We manage to get through this without all getting killed, I'll stand there and let her give her critique while you watch." "You guys can give one another pointers in the sack another time," America states with eyes rolling upward as she shakes her head. "Adam's probably hoping for some pointers, anyway," she adds with a knowing smirk as she turns to regard him with that smug expression as if she knew something he didn't. Or rather knew something he didn't know she knew. Maybe it was just a woman thing. Shaking her head she gets back to 'business', "Right, well. Now that we've got that solved, any ideas what we do in the time being, Stark Junior?" Okay so maybe she had to tease just a BIT more. The deflection of the punch doesn't seem to bother him much. Adam grins as Julian, shaking his head. "Just... yeah. We'll do that, because it'll be entertaining at least." But when America makes her comment, he replies "Hey!" with a scowl. "I've never had any complaints, you know." Or something. "Yeah, Julian. Where to? Any place we can wait for Jeanne? Or do we need to find a place to hide?" Adam doesn't look too worried about either option. "I've got a room. It'll keep us out of sight. I don't...-think- it's being monitored. But I don't know for sure." Julian shrugs, "Hell, in for a penny, in for a pound, right? C'mon...it's this way. He lifts into the air, plucking up Adam in a TK field as well...considerably more dignified than being dragged around by the collar, and starts to lead them back to the room in question. "If either of you make a threesome joke..." America warns as she lifts off flying along with them. "So. Guess the 'team' is back together for now," she murmers as she glances around giving a nod here or there to other fliers as they pass by. "... Yeah. Kind of like home. Only there's more guys. Most men didn't make the Moms cut..." Realizing she was talking about her old life she cuts off abruptly. "So why did they bring you here any way?" Adam seems to actually enjoy the flight to Julian's place in Genosha, looking around at the people below-- and their complete lack of concern for the flying teens. In fact, others are airborne here and there as well. It's an interesting experience for him. "You know, if it wasn't run by a crazy guy, I'd kinda like this place." "For the obvious reason." Julian notes to America, somewhat grimly, "He wanted to give me the recruitment pitch. Thinks I've got "potential" and all that other patronizing stuff." He sighs, TKing a pitcher to pour a few glasses of water and then floating them over to America, Adam, and himself. "Not gonna lie. Guy makes some good points, but I'm not keen on this whole judge, jury, and executioner bit." Julian notes, gulping down the water fairly quickly, "Mystique though? Brrrrrr." America hovered near the window though not quite literally. She was looking out for Jeanne one way or another. Somehow she knew, where ever the girl had run off to, she would show up again soon. When the water comes over she takes it with a thankful nod taking a long gulp. "Mmmm. Just because someone has good points, doesn't mean they're going about things the right way." Frowning she looks back over her shoulder giving a nod toward the pair. Adam swigs his water, shrugging. "I don't even know what the dude's points /are/," he says finally. "Look, all I know is he's the boss here, he kidnapped all these people, and he does something with magnets, so don't use metal against him. So, whatever." He unslings his quiver and his backpack, tucking them down out of the way. "We wait for Finesse. We form a plan. We save the day. We go home, and grab pizza." It's right when America looks over her shoulder that Finesse, literally, drops in, landing onto the balcony. How she knew where they were, or for that matter, where Julian is she does not immediately divulge. Instead, she smoothly rises up to her feet after the fall. "Julian. I am pleased to see you remain alive." She glances to Adam, then to America. "I am also pleased you had the intellect to wait for me as I calculated you did. Your obvious inability to be subtle or move with stealth would have only hindered my movements. I have discovered the area on the island where they are keeping the prisoners. As well as a few of the codes to access certain security measures. However, Magneto takes it would seem security very highly here. It would seem his main computers are only connected to the servers during certain intervals, if at all." "Right? That's -exactly- what I was trying to tell him." Julian replies to America with all seriousness, "Don't think I made much of a dent, though. It was civil, and he at least pretended to listen if he wasn't actually listening, but definitely didn't change any minds." He does turn his attention to Adam, frowning a bit, then gives America a look that kind of says, "Is this guy for real?" Not that he doesn't know Adam already but...seriously. Then Jeanne is there, and Julian smiles towards her, "Good to see you too, Jeanne. Did you see any sign of Hawkeye and Black Widow?" He considers a few moments, "I...could maybe provide a distraction if we need it, but it'd mean I'd have to find my own way out of here, so I guess that's a no-go. We're just going to have to move -really- fast. if we get stuck in a knock-down, drag out with the Brotherhood, it's not going to go well for us, and that's assuming they don't bring a few dozen of their friends and neighbors along for the ride." America glances sharply over her shoulder in surprise when Jeanne pops in frowning slightly at the sudden, unexpected arrival. She moves to the side allowing her room to get into the room fully though opting instead to lean against the wall with arms crossed. A sip is taken of the water as she listens. "Mm. I CAN keep a portal open for awhile but that's going to take a lot of energy and make me a lot less helpful in a fight. I still can. Just can't keep it open long." "I did not encounter any documentation or notes about any other prisoners than those of the SHIELD Raft raid," Jeanne surmises, concisely. She shrugs, smoothly. "It may be that Clint and Natasha are among them. They also may not be here. As the computer I was able to hack was only a tertiary on the network, it did not have full information." She considers the group, "Attacking is foolish. We have Julian. We should leave while we have opportunity." Adam gives Jeanne a dark look. "I'm not leaving without Clint. Or the others. We're heroes. I don't care if you want to go-- go. You came to get your new boyfriend, and that's all you care about." He looks to Julian and America. "Whatever. Send them home. I'm staying. I'm finding Clint and the rest, and I'll do whatever I have to do." Julian shakes his head, "No Jeanne. I appreciate why you came, and I am definitely going back with you, but..." He glances to Adam and grins just a touch, "We're not just heroes. We're Avengers. We're gonna get chewed out like crazy regardless, so we may as well get chewed out for doing the right thing and at least trying to get these people out. I'm still not sure Clint and Natasha are even here, but definitely them too if they are...-more- so them too." He looks to Jeanne, beckoning her closer to the rest of the group, "So tell us what else you've got stored in that crazy-awesome brain of yours...and let's figure out a plan...." Part two of a series Part One: 2014-01-17 - SDR: Young Avengers... ASSEMBLE! Part Three: 2014-01-19 - SDR: ...in for a pound. Part Four: 2014-01-19 - SDR: Young Avengers to the Rescue!